How much interior chrome is too much?

[CurtP]

I realize this is totally subjective, but I am curious what the general consensus is when it comes to interior chrome. As I have posted in another thread in this forum, I have recently had my ashtray lid and the switch panel hoops chromed as a preliminary test to see how well they would turn out. The pieces came out looking very good, IMO, so I want to send in some additional pieces to get done.

I'm pretty sure I want to send in the two center vent surrounds, the black plastic trim pieces that go around the emergency flasher/light dimmer switches, the shifter boot trim ring, the front cup holders trim ring, speedo trim ring, tachometer trim ring, the door lock trim rings and the end caps from the e-brake handle. I think those pieces would be OK without pushing the edge of tacky.

But what about other interior pieces like the round defroster vents from the dash? How about the down tubes from the dash (that go down into the console)? Any other parts that I should consider?

There are some parts that can't be chromed -- like the speaker grills (including the tweeter grill). The process that this particular company does is real chrome which is thick. Trying to chrome the grills would just close up the little holes in the mesh.

I think that getting the door pulls (the Y-shaped piece in the door panels that has the little vinyl covered arm rest on them) and the dash inserts (the parts that are colored bright silver, anthracite, etc) chromed would be way too much. Then again, the pieces I do want to get chromed may be too much too. Maybe I should only get the speedo, tach and vent trim rings done and leave everything else alone.

I've even thought about pulling the radio and Auto-AC apart and having the bezels chromed, but I knew that would be too much

[tip]

If and when you decide to do any of this, send pics I would love to see it. If you want to ask someone who loves crome PM Monsta. he loves the stuff.


Cheers

Charles

[stryder]

Quote:

Originally posted by obehave
Know how to remove that ugly ring from the middle of the steering wheel? If that's not a candidate for chroming I don't know what is.

Assuming we're talking about the same thing the ugly ring's part of the plastic, which is all part of the airbag cover, so umm, unless you want to replace it, (it was quoted at $1250 to replace one) I don't think there's an easy solution.

Back to the topic, is there a bulk discount for chroming? if its just a per piece price, don't feel so rushed, just get things done little by little, then you can stop when its enough. I think it'd be difficult to visualize how much is too much unless you've achieved it, and then you've gone and paid to get it chromed, and you'd need to buy the pieces again to turn it back.

[GordonD]

Any

[MiniMan7]

Ok, that seems alittle outrageous.

[Guuyuk]

Well, chrome seats and carpeting would be too mucn... Rather slippery to sit on as well

Seriously, I think chrome looks good in the MINI interior, but you need to have contrast with the rest of the car. So the trim rings would be good, but chroming the insturments and/or surrounding material would be plain ugly.

I ran into Scooterman at a gathering last week in San Antonio. His CVT Cooper has a lot of tastefully done chrome trim pieces in the car, and it looked great!

This, of course, depends on your personal taste.

[olerud400]

not quite chrome, but i've seen diamond plate floormats...i think in moss mini...if you want to go that route...

[stryder]

Quote:

Originally posted by obehave
That would be why I phrased it as a question, as in, if possible.
But from looking at some pics in tha past of deployed air bags the whole front of the center lifts and the center decoration is just hanging on the flap of material that blows out. So I imagine it's pretty hard to get off.
But if there's a way somebody here probably knows it.
In retrospect maybe it's more of a rhetorical question but I'd still be curious.

Ahh, sorry about that. So looking at the piece now, the shiny black piece and the MINI logo are attached with some clips on the back. So that could be replaced, if you found a way to open it without setting off the airbag. The chrome/painted ring around the black is painted on. So its pretty much not changeable, though you could paint it again, or maybe put something chrome on top it if you were careful to leave the space outside the ring free, so the airbag could deploy by ripping through that.

Maybe this is why there's all the rumors of a new steering wheel for '04? since the current design scratches and such and isn't really fixable.

[smiffy]

Too much

http://www.terminalbraindrain.com/ga...d=153_5338_IMG

[stryder]

I lost the thread, but found it again: http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=28594 and maybe with the 3 spoke thing you can chrome more of it?

[CurtP]

Quote:

Originally posted by smiffy
Too much

http://www.terminalbraindrain.com/ga...d=153_5338_IMG

But what takes it over the edge? The combination of colors along with all the chrome, or just the amount of chrome itself?

I think I'm pretty set on getting all the trim rings chromed, although Obe did bring up a good point about defining edges. You'll get a chance to see it in person on Thursday, so you can tell me what you think then!

What I can't decide on is the defroster vents on either side of the dash pad, the trim ring around the door locks and the downtubes. Looking at the picture smiffy posted, I can't decide about having those chromed -- that may be too much for me.

One thing I do wish I had is the anthacite dash panels. Does anyone know if the airbag cover can be bought separately, or does it have to be bought with an entire airbag? I wonder if I could take mine off and paint them myself...

[MiniMan7]

Quote:

Originally posted by smiffy
Too much

http://www.terminalbraindrain.com/ga...d=153_5338_IMG

Whoa!!!

[AprilWhine]

If you've seen KillerBee's car, anything he painted yellow would look good in chrome.

[Burning Chrome]

I'd LOVE to have my car look like the Chrom Design car. I had been wondering why the picture for their chrome air scoop had flame designs around it on their web site and now I know. The flames look great in particular, they look like they are some sort of an overlay, not just a sticker. Does anyone know if that's the case?

[smiffy]

Quote:

Originally posted by obehave
Very '50s. Chrome was king baby!

Very Bling Bling